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Summary

This is a collection of essays on the literature of "saints' lives" in Anglo-Saxon literature.

"This book will fill a major gap in the field of Anglo-Saxon studies. The prose saints' lives represent a major body of surviving Old English literature, and have much to tell us about the culture, intellectual history, and literary traditions of the Anglo-Saxon period, but they have been generally neglected in favor of poetic texts and Anglo-Latin hagiography. Given the renewed interest in Old English prose and in medieval hagiography generally, this book is both timely and valuable. In addition, the contributions are of uniformly high quality, and represent diverse approaches and methodologies. The essays by Whatley and Hill make up a splendid introduction to the historical and literary study of hagiography." -- Charles D. Wright, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"This collection significantly advances knowledge of Old English prose saints' lives through its inclusion of resource materials, the results of basic research, and new interpretations of Aelfric's works that help us to better understand his aims and achievements as the leading author of prose saints' lives." -- Mary P. Richards, Dean College of Arts & Sciences, University of Delaware

"This is a distinguished contribution to the field; I don't know how we got along without it for so long. The introduction by Whatley is magnificent, a model of its kind: 'cutting edge' scholarship yet readable, accessible to a wide audience. The pieces by Lapidge/Jackson, Joyce Hill, and Scragg will be standard reading. The literary articles are either excellent or provocative, usually both. This will be on every Anglo-Saxonist's bookshelf." -- Roberta Frank, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto

Paul E. Szarmach is Director of the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. He is the editor of Aspects of Medieval Culture in the Middle Ages; Introduction to the Medieval Mystics of Europe; Studies in Earlier Old English Prose, and co-author (with Bernard F. Huppe) of Old English Homily and Its Background, all published by SUNY Press. He is also the editor of the SUNY series in Medieval Studies.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations and Short Titles
ForewordPaul E. SzarmachIntroductionAn Introduction to the Study of Old English Prose Hagiography: Sources and ResourcesE. Gordon WhatleyPart One: The ContextsImago Dei: Genre, Symbolism, and Anglo-Saxon HagiographyThomas D. HillSaints and Companions to Saints: Anglo-Saxon Royal Women Monastics in ContextCarol Neuman de VegvarHagiography and Politics in Early NorthumbriaDavid RollasonÆlfric's SanctoraleMichael LapidgeThe Contents of the Cotton-Corpus LegendaryPeter Jackson and Michael LapidgeHermits and the Contemplative Life in Anglo-Saxon EnglandMary ClaytonSaint Cuthbert: The Post-Conquest Appropriation of an Anglo-Saxon CultBarbara Abou-El-HajPart Two: Old English ProseThe Corpus of Anonymous Lives and Their Manuscript ContextD. G. ScraggAppendix: The Three Anonymous Lives in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 303D. G. Scragg and Elaine TreharneThe Dissemination of Ælfric's Lives of Saints: A Preliminary SurveyJoyce HillExperiments in Genre: The Saints' Lives in Ælfric's Catholic HomiliesM. R. GoddenÆlfric as Historian: His Use of Alcuin's Laudationes and Sulpicius' Dialogues in His Two Lives of MartinFrederick M. BiggsÆlfric and the Legend of the Seven SleepersHugh MagennisDiscourse and Hypersignification in Two of Ælfric's Saints' LivesRuth WaterhouseSt. Euphrosyne: Holy TransvestitePaul E. SzarmachIndex of Manuscripts
Index of Saints
Subject Index